I can't believe I am blogging again. But I need somewhere to vent my frustration.

The reason? お嬢様に恋してる。あるいは、お姫様に恋をしている。サレナが大好きです。

What is love? I always believed in the magic of love. But for every bit of joy it has brought me, it promises to return me in sadness ten-fold.

Would I rather have not loved her? I only wished that I could turn back time to 2 1/2 years ago. i would have changed so many things. Tried to be a better person. Protected her from the demon. Did my best not to make her sad. But it is all too late. She will be going, and she has someone else to love her. And she probably deserves the person too. He will definitely be able to give her a better life than i can.

What a poor loser like me do to deserve her? Nothing. She is way above my station. Why would she even look at me when there is an MD to look after her. An ambition-less, dumbass otaku who does not look or talk well does not deserve a princess by his side.

But I do treasure the moments she has given me. The few pseudo-dates... were the best i ever had. Beggars can't be choosers can they? The outing at the park, the movie, the museum trip, the jogs....how I wish i could relive them over and over again. Only in my mind ... once she goes back to Shanghai.

i just can't get her out of my mind. Every waking thought is spent thinking of her. How she will be gone soon. This is driving me mad. And I still can't confess to her, for fear that I will not be able to see her again next time. Should i confess? The problem with confession is the fear of the harsh reality that will soon follow. The inevitable rejection. if she is kind, she might do it gently, but somehow I don't think so. The tough princess will play it straight and my already broken heart will be shattered into a million irretrievable pieces.

Would it have been better not to fall in love with her? i don't know. but it was not an option that i could have chosen. it just happened. Thinking of her soft smooth face makes me smile. Her gentle smile is angelic, and her laugh... i love to make her laugh. It is heart-stopping. Just hearing her say "Thank you, Darren." is enough. She is not perfect, but to me she is worth more than any other idol I can think of. i would sacrifice myself for her, if need be. i just want to make her happy. Will hiding in the darkness make it so?

お姫様、幸せに。

What should I do??????? i know I can only be happy if i can be with her. yet that it is not something i can control. And will she be happy with me? When I consider that sometimes i think that it is indeed a pointless existence. Why bother living if it is in constant heartache? 片思いのは一番一番辛いことでしょう。 The truth is that to quote Portishead, nobody loves me. And it is a sad, harsh but true reality.

i am just a coward. But a coward also has his day of reckoning, and mine is coming soon. I just need to know WHAT to do.

A new year has arrived in 2006... Well technically it's over by Western reckoning but today (the time of writing this intro not posting anyway!) happens to be the first day of the Chinese New Year so ^_________^ Gong Xi Fa Cai (prosperity) to all! The connection CNY has to do with Jpop being that the money I collect within this period (It's traditional for unmarried people to get red packets with money from relatives during this period) will be put to "good use" by funding my new round of Jpop purchases, lol.

Luckily it comes without any obligation to actually talk with said relatives most of whom I have no idea which hole they came out from and who I only see like once a year... I just spend my time watching TV at my uncle's place as always (so my happiness every year pretty much depends on which DVD he decides to play). This year it happened to be Fantastic Four
and then Madagascar, which I thought was hilarious, but he had to
then turn the DVD off halfway to watch some traditional CNY singing thing, $#$^&!!!! (at that point I requested to leave) Another boring start to a boring year!!!!

Anyway, I do realise that I failed to bring any decent closure to my past year thanks to me never really stating what I thought was good (and bad ) ala Santos for most of the J entertainment world so out of a sheer inclinity to crap here is another sneak peak into what makes me tick ...

X denotes the guys whom I've managed to attend concerts or events for last year while * are the ones I almost got to watch.

Yes it was a great year with my 2 trips to Japan coupled with me being able to go to the fabled Giza Hills Bread Factory at last to watch my favourite ladies perform. It was a small, standing and cozy underground venue but the atmosphere was way better than normal concerts. I guess 2005 also marked the year I went gaga over Aiko and Shiori, I love their songs so much!

Aiko is a real cutie in person, she has such a pixie face, and she sings her songs with such enthusiasm, I love her latin beat, and for sure she will be in my No.1 spot even if nobody else loves her like me on JPM! The only grouse I had with her show was that she didn't perform my all-time fav aiko song, Fuyu Urara for some reason, arguably that was the song that created my fandom in the first place. :(

Shiori has such an amazing and unforgettable voice, my breakthrough artiste of the year lol. I'll never forget her show at Sakae, acoustic unplugged, songs like Tsunagari and Sekai Tomete, it sounds cheesy but they really touched my heart, shame that my hp which I recorded the song on secretly is now dead. And I got to shake hands with her ^___^ Shiori has jaw-droppingly stunning vocals which kind of converted me from a casual fan to an addict lol. I was mad about Tsunagari from the middle of 2005, I was listening to it almost everyday ever since I heard it.

Hayami has such great energy, even though she was only the guest on the OOM show I went her segment was the most well-received, she is really a sexy mover on stage, even more so than what you see in her lives or pvs. Really electric movement that brought the crowd up and jumping. Her dancing is just O_O. I won't forget her dancing to Britney and Konya wa Kaeranai, probably her best non-single track ever.

I just missed seeing Hitomi Shimatani perform because of a train delay T_T but she had so many great singles last year (esp Falco, what a great dance) my love for her is rekindled again lol. Nobody doubted her singing ability but she really showed that her dancing was something to behold as well, mesmerizing!

For Ai Otsuka, I wanted to catch her concert tour but I had to leave Tokyo a day too early :( , I thought her live DVD was real blast so it was kind of a waste, 2005 was again her year after such a great 2004, with her Love Jam album surpassing Love Punch (let's not talk about Love Cook though lol) and her Planetarium doing so well. Who can forget the Kuroge song with the weird title and the dirty lyrics?? And the version that one likes probably reflects on one's personality as well ( *hint* I like the album 735yen version more lol) She's equally good at doing cutesy songs (Smily) and ballads (Bidama -- One of my favourites) But the most special ability I thought she had was her art, with the weird stories she created and drew with the rabbit-creature Love-chan, you can't find that in any other artiste today! It's just so darn kitschy cute, the thing.

For Mika Nakashima, I went for her concert in NHK Hall but it was kind of a disappointment considering i paid 6000yen or so for it, because I was sitting all the way at the 3rd tier at the back, a far cry from my Giza lives when the artistes were a couple meters in front of me only (and that costs half the price!). There was NO big screen -- which I thought was pretty rubbish of NHK not to have one -- so I could pretty much have just stayed at home, watch an ant dancing while listening to my Mika CD and have the same effect. Yeah, it was that bad, and from this I learnt the golden rule of concert viewing: If you're not gonna sit in fan club seats, bring a #$%#$ pair of binoculars! Singapore concerts are much better in the sense that there's always a big screen so people anyway could see clearly (in fact, even Giza had large TV screens mounted on the ceiling at Breads Factory, but not NHK!) The concert itself was fine but because I didn't do adequate research before watching (ie. listened sufficiently to non-single songs) much of the stuff was lost on me, but I gathered that she did quite a few nana songs like Glamourous Sky and My Medicine which I ended up hearing for the first time (more on Nana later!). The worse was that she didn't perform my favourite songs -- A Miracle For You was not performed but played ON THE PA SYSTEM after the concert ended @_@ , not to mention stuff like Resistance. The fact that I'm still grousing about this months down the road shows the high expectations I had for the concert which wasn't really met, a real shame. Mainly, I learnt that small intimate standing venues trump large concert seating venues any day, besides being cheaper, for the sheer atmosphere and view. But in the end, I still appreciate the experience of going for a real concert. Too bad that's the price you pay if you like famous artistes...

Aya Ueto was another missed opportunity, because I happened to be in Osaka when she had a concert. The gripe was that ordering was not done through pia but through some stupid phone booking system which neither me nor my friends could get to work properly, seeing that it is offline half the time. And it was hell difficult to find ticket resellers in Osaka unlike in Tokyo so out of desperation I decided to look for scalpers instead, but they quoted me a 10000yen price which I couldn't afford despite me desperately wanting to due to the front-row seating (yes I was on a shoestring budget trip then unfortunately) so all I could do is sob outside the concert venue and curse the sky, sadistic scalpers and whichever yakusa they work for lol. I didn't even get to see the concert merchandise they were selling!

For Azumi, she was one of my old favourites as I really loved the album she released some years back, so I eagerly bought her comeback single (I didn't have enough money to go to her UK Night live though -_-), but the single (Himitsu) wasn't really that great. But I hope she could do some better stuff later on in 2006 *cross fingers*

Oh U-ka U-ka, the most popular Giza girl after Mai K, she is the definition of genki I have to say. Her show was the funniest and the most energetic, and she was the only person (ok band) who did so without any guests whatsoever!! How often do you see people play games and skits on stage with the audience, the banter was amusing and her groupies in front were real crazy people lol. If I had to compare U-ka to anything, it would be an Energizer Bunny. Again the only shame was that she played a lot of songs I was unfamiliar with, so as a whole I thought Aiko's Giza live was the best.

Finally, Ryoko Kuninaka is one of the actresses I like, but I do enjoy her folkish Okinawan songs as well, although she isn't a "full-time" singer, she doeshave a good voice.

And Kana has to be put in the special category, because she isn't a real solo, but I just love her "Kono Hito"! One of my favourite songs and ballads, she's undoubtedly the best vocalist in dream, the reason why I followed dream in the first place all the way from 2001. I'm so sure I will be playing this song during my wedding if I ever have one lol. I just have to watch her and Yuu once in my life, and if she ever performs this song again I think I will have died happy. XD

Blog revival! ^^ LOL ok although I don't think I will be bloggin that much but I don't want this to turn into a dead blog all the same. There's still so much things i could talk about (although without the interesting analyses everyone else seem to be able to provide, lol)

First thing, I want to complain that D-Addicts didn't bother to release the most hotly-anticipated (for me anyway) late nite dorama-cum-sex-comedy... Koisuru?! Kyabajou! Why oh why? If they can release all sorts of crap shows,
retarded Singapore dramas and even that Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano (a late night dorama full of sex+nudity), why not Koisuru Kyabajou, starring a (to date) wholesome-to-goodness idol-of-idols and Queen of Girl Pop Land, Yuu Hasebe? (and supported by Nao Nagasawa) Surely there must be a lot of interest in this show among dorama fanatics (or is dream that unpopular... boo hoo... ;_; )

From the previews Santos has shown, it's kind of like a sex comedy... maybe along the lines of Korean movies recently except without the "real" sex (I mean...it IS Yuu... even Iwamayu didn't have "real" sex in Deep Love... I mean despite the "48 positions" stunt, it's more bizarrely funny than erotic) And given that it takes a look at the very sleazy but still intriguing cabaret industry (of which I have zero experience in, obviously), it promises to be a really different kind of show aside from the conventional "Girl Loves Boy" or "Love Triangle" zzzz type. I mean, I do want to know if Yuu finds out money is more important or her boyfriend's love (they break up promising to meet again in the first ep). Does she return to him after three months? Or will she be in cabaret forever? So I'm crossing my fingers hoping that somebody will share this...

Anyway, here's a look at the cast during their press conference a few weeks back. Yuu, Nao, Saori Yamamoto and other lesser gravure idols...

Yuu looks so girly in her pineapple hair and pink dress.

How can anyone imagine her working in Cabaret?!? And having all kinds of dubious and bath scenes in the show... there goes her pure image... sobbbbb :tears: "Give me my old Yuu again..." But with the "sex bomb" rubbish hot image being in vogue now apparently (curse you Kumi!), looks like Yuu has to shock and titillate otakus to progress. It is certainly a period of "transit" for dream now...
Nao looks like she will make a good cabaret girl. I would gladly pay 30000 yen for her company. (besides, I've got her IV so I know how good her figure is... And she has just come up with another IV apparently O_O Should I buy it?) XD XD

During this conference, Yuu said that when they asked her how she felt about her role that "この話を聞いたときに一回やってみたいと思っていたのでうれしかったです。撮影に入ってキャバ嬢のいろんな苦労がわかってやっぱりやりたくないと思いました(笑)" "When I heard about the role, as I wanted to try it [being a kyabajou] out once, I was happy. But when I started filming, I learnt the difficulties that a kyabajou faced, and I decided that I don't want to do such a thing anymore." Luckily, Yuu won't be changing her profession soon and we can all breathe a sign of relief lol.

Now I just need to wait for Santos update on the latest episode, although apparently it's no "48 positions" Kama-sutra shocker like the first one... guess you couldn't really top that.

And just like thea, I'm hoping to see Chikan Otoko too, starring Yuu, Nao and Sayaka Isoyama... it looks like a funny show to me... I mean, just look at this picture from Yuu's homepage. So funny... poor guy... or rather lucky guy. I wouldn't mind being hentai-ly tortured by 3 babes and imprisoned.... XD

I'm not sure if I will get the DVD though. Maybe somebody will share it online. XD

Finally, I wonder if Yuu will come up with more IVs and photobooks this year? I'm so glad that I contributed to her #1 ranking in the idol DVD ranking. (as she said in her message board, "昨日のランク王国では、2005年アイドルDVD売上ランキング1位を頂く事も出来ました(>_

Back to my poor neglected blog lol... I got tons of things to blog about but too many things competing for my time I need to either stop chatting on JPM or find 48 hours in a day lol.

As usual thea always comes up with the news first when it comes to Girl's Box XD but she hasn't done a review on the full pv of Giant X'mas so I thought I'll do one! And obviously first priority will be "Michi watch" -- I mean she got 0.2 sec in the first version so how much better with "Pity Michi" do this time round??? There was tense anticipation in the air as I started the clip...

First things first though I gotta say I really like the effect of the ribbons with the "mysterious green light ball" at the front going through the air at the very start of the pv, nice touch!

Then as before we see the 4 protagonists of the mini story appearing before us: Yuu Hasebe, Aiko Kayo, Nao Nagasawa and finally Nanase Hoshii, in that order. In case you are wondering why Yuu's pix is hovering away from the rest, it's because she's the queen of Girl's Box duh (yah you can't have her seen near the "lowly ones" like Aipi lol), and not my poor HTML skills. XD XD

Then as you may already know they go on to have a mini-story as before with the 4 girls walking around, Nanase giving a really constipated shocked expression near the front (forgot to cap that lol), Aiko trying to act cute as usal with that hand sign in the waitress outfit (urgh! that's one thing I can't stand about her... yes I will include this in my upcoming Aipi rant)

and of course she had to look ridiculously like a flower bed near the end... (ok i'm just being evil)

But back to the main topic: Michi watch! Amazingly she had a "major" role in the pv (at least compared to her "cameo" last time). I counted 2+1/2+1/2 appearances in the first chorus (I'll explain the half later), 2+1/2 appearances in the second chorus and none in the last refrain. As she does not appear in the story at all, those are the only places she could appear in the pv, naturally.

For each appearance (always during the "Yay yay yay sha la la ding dong" part) they generally give her a few seconds screentime each so adding together she could easily have gotten around 10 sec in all... ok not much it's really good already considering her minute role!

Here's some caps of her dancing with the group

As for the meaning of the "1/2" appearances, it's because there are parts in the pv where you could not see her head at all, for instance here

Michi is standing to the back, behind Hoshii and to the left of Shizuka. No head but you can recognise her by the clothes. So she had 2 of such "virtual screentime" in the first chorus and 1 in the second although I did not actually add this to her total (I mean, how many eagle-eyes viewers will know it is her?!)

But actually, the best news is that she actually had "solo" time on the cam! WOW! (amazing, looks like the camaraman and video editor did pity her after all)

Yes, around 1 to 2 secs worth of Michi goodness for fans to drool over. Now you MUST know she is there.

Rats, gotta evacuate to my friend's birthday party now (or rather to buy presents, king procrastinator that I am, I have to leave it till the day itself XD) , will continue the analysis when I return!

I finally got a call to collect my Yuu calendar yesterday, after a month or so of waiting... I actually went to the same shop the day before to ask about it but it still hasn't arrived so I thought it would be a couple more weeks, but silly enough it actually came right after I asked. Well I quickly opened it when I got home... I was wondering if it was gonna be full of bikini pix... well as i half-expected already it was. Hmm my mum's not gonna be too happy but who cares lol. And she looks hotinside!
However, I was kinda disappointed that the clothes/bikinis worn were the same as those the I Love Yu pb (except for that black bikini), which I already had, so you get the feeling that it's kinda recyled... guess she hadn't had time to go for a special calendar photoshoot... too bad. :( One good thing is that at least the calendar is better designed this time than previous years, such that they actually had perforated lines for one to tear each month out easily. Well, actually I don't like to tear months out but flip them over, but that will ruin the calendar this time round...

Anyway, here are the pix...!

Click for full picture

Actually honestly speaking i still prefer her to be wearing nice clothes rather than bikinis... coz i still don't really think of her as the "gravure model" type... (old habits die hard... unlike Michi or Nao lol) That's why I think she looks the best on the 4th and 7th pic, although she does look great in that black bikini too.

I wonder if she will be releasing more dvds in 2006? Or will she be progressing further in her blossoming acting career? She already had quite a few supporting roles in doramas so far and she had a lead role in the Chikan Otoko movie opposite Nao Nagasawa and Sayaka Isoyama which just finished. I just gotta try and catch that one for both Yuu and Nao!

It's a shame that she doesn't get to hang out with the rest of the dream members often now because of all this extra work, but I hope their team unity will stay strong. She is the "Queen" of Girl's Box Land but I still want her to do things with her "subjects" once in a while lol! In fact, I wonder if she can be found in the Transit pv even? (I guess even if she isn't, that's only fair since she was the only one found in the previous pv) Sometimes, with all the stuff the dream girls are doing nowadays, like futsal training, I really wonder where they find the time to come together to actually record this mini-album! Nonetheless, I'm reasonably confident that it will be a quality work ... just waiting for my order to arrive now!

Everytime I think about it, I get more and more convinced that my "Attack All Around" Jpop policy (although I'm more or less a "dreamy" GIZA guy, with a dash of Avex) will leave me stuck in an eternal poverty cycle, lol. There are always sooooooo many CDs and goods to buy and never enough money to buy them. I need a real job fast!

Things that I am getting this Christmas

1. dream - Boy Meets Girl (album)

The anticipation has been building up for this mysterious "concept album"... can't wait! The theme is the title... I wonder if the pv will have a story again...? (like Kono Natsu ga Owaru Maeni)

2. dream - Table Calendar 2006

39p of pics! I have never bought a real table calendar before and it will sure make a nice change from the generic free ones I have right now, although I would not be able to bring myself to write any notes on it, that's for sure. All photos taken and produced by Aya Takamoto. You know, she's never really been my favourite but I'm growing to like and definitely respect her more and more. She can do everything! From updating the member diary frequently, to performing miracles during futsal, being the virtual dream cheerleader and now taking all the shots. She is GOOD!

3. Yuu Hasebe - 2006 Calendar

Wall calendar! So it can definitely complement my dream one. It's her first solo calendar, I think... I wonder if it comprises of bikini shots....??

4. Harenchi Punch - Megaphone (single)

I definitely want the limited ed one-- it includes the director's edition of the Hakusen~Start Line~ and Megaphone pvs... I wonder what's the difference???

5. Garnet Crow - Garnet Crow Best (album)

It's beautiful! The packaging. Picture book, CDs, everything stuffed into a nice box. When I saw it, I knew I had to get my hands on it, especially since it is their best album after all!

6. Azumi Uehara - Himitsu (single)

Wayyyyyyyyyy overdue. Azumi-chan, it's been 3 years!!!!!!!! I missed you.... ;_;;;;; Her first album was so good... It was a terrible wait. I almost thought she was never gonna release anything again.

7. Hitomi Shimatani - Heart and Symphony (album)

Well I have to hunt for the overseas ed but I'm sure it will be in the shops... the latest songs are the best she's done in a while, she really never disappoints.

8. Ai Otsuka - Love Cook (album)

Gotta get the overseas ed for this one too, since it will also be there. Still hasn't decided if I want the photobook or picture book ed? I got the picture book for Love Jam and I always thought the story was very interesting...

Under consideration

1. Sayuri Iwata - Thank You For...

Oh.... I'm sorely tempted to get this one. I didn't really pay attention to her when she debut but thanks to some promotion from hananokoi, a big Sayuri fan, in JPM, I find I like her works more and more now. Her songs are pretty good. It includes her last 2 singles, and if the songs are anything like those, they'll be fine. Should I give this a go?

2. Girl's Box - 3rd Christmas

Ok... I'm feeling very guilty now for not getting this, since it's not doing well on the charts, despite being boasting the biggest "all-stars" lineup yet! It must be that evil "Kayucks' fault.... X_X What should I do? i don't especially like this year' song...

3. Michi Saito - Dakara...

I'm feeling more and more confident that I will eventually get this one... she's like those doe-eyed puppies you see in the pet shop whose eyes seem to tell you, "Don't you want me? Boo hoo..." yah well, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing lol.

4. Mi - M-1 (album)

Oh I really want to get this one... just can't find the $$$ for now.... Maika rox.

There! Any donations to my Jpop fund will be welcome, just drop me a msg. XD In return, maybe I will reward the donor with some clips from my large Jpop clips collection, lol. (if only I have labelled them better!)

Anyway, in case anyone is wondering I guess I just ought to list down the artistes who I support... I'm kinda pragmatic in the sense that I normally don't buy singles unless they are really cheap (eg. 2nd-hand stuff)... well I can't afford it duh! But I will buy their albums.

Boystyle - my 2nd fav girl group not for no reason!
mi - need to hear their new band sound once it forms!
Tommy February6 - oh I love Tommy retro!!
Harenchi Punch - they have been impressive so far
Aya Ueto - genki hatsuratsu!
Ryoko Kuninaka - I really love her Okinawa-flavoured songs, but she's another one that's been lying low
The Brilliant Green - not that they have released anything in ages
Zard - more out of habit though because I've been buying their stuff for like, 10 years, lol, although their songs now are not that great

other
melody - really really really really pretty... <3
Bon Bon Blanco - the only "bongos group" around... irreplaceable
TommyHeavenly6 - more rock than TBG
Mika Nakashima - great voice, plus I've watched her concert...
Berryz Koubou - more cute tha c-ute... and they get some of the best H!P songs
Kaela Kimura - really no other reason to watch Saku Saku
move - best dance-rap-trance group in town
Nakanomori Band - softer kind of rock
Sister Q - need to hear more from them though
Changin' My Life - they have reformed!!!!... amazing. I wish I know the full story behind it
Younha - well she had that ONE song that I'm crazy over...
Yuna Ito - Endless Story was good...!

Ok I was only interested in one artiste in last week's PJ (my fav music bangumi) and it was D.D.D. Unfortunately, no kind soul wanted to rip the group's performance out to share anywhere (kinda suggests their lack of popularity, but more on that later) so I had to download the entire Pop Jam episode... what a waste of space... (usually I download the whole thing only if there were maybe 3 artistes I like; on normal occasions BigRon will usually rip those that I like out so I only had to download those that I want to watch, but not this week)

But anyway at least I found out inadvertably while scanning through the rest that Koike Teppei was in WaT (a fact that I had somewhat forgotten).
WaT had a really long segment in PJ this week. While I was watching I though hmm... his face looks familiar... ahhh Dragonzakura! If I am not wrong he was the guy with the pink extensions in his hair, the guy who was not the nerd nor Yama-p (who Masami liked in the show...grrr...). He looked totally different now, but I never thought badly of him, because he had the kind of face that looked friendly and sincere, someone you want to be befriend. No wonder the girls like him. As opposed to those arrogant looking guys (like a certain T Kimura) who I cannot stand watching because I feel like punching the TV set when he steps on all the ladies on the time in the doramas but they still flock towards him like flies to honey for some bizarre reason. (Luckily he got cursed with an ugly wife-- hah!) They also showed Teppei's younger photos and old footage... he was cute! Boy-boy cute, to be exact. I might just be supporting this guy from now on lol. His partner -watshisname- though looked like some Eurasian though.

Oh, before I deviate further, back to the main course... D.D.D was all the way at the back in the Break artistes section. Which I expected, since this was their debut single. Being addicted to this song for the last week (before Megaphone took over), I was curious to see how they will perform. It was only today that I realised D.D.D actually stood for Dance Dance Dance, because I hadn't exactly done too much research on them...

For some bizarre reason, even though I had watched their Melodix perf of Heart I always thought D.D.D consisted of 5 people. Watching their live today, I realised what was wrong. They looked horribly... unbalanced. Yes, it's the poor symmetry! Just see the caps.

It can be seen clearly that there are always 2 girls on Maria Sakamoto's right during almost all the dance (something that was not evident for Melodix due to clever camara angles and frequent close-ups of Maria). It looks WEIRD. Couldn't they just recruit one more girl, or better yet, rework the dance part so that they can spread out more evenly? Surely it can be done? The problem was that Maria was relatively stationary most of the time singing at her position, so the other 3 have to be dancing by her side -- so it was always 2 and 1. It looked so damnedweird that I actually went to check their website because I thought maybe one member was absent or something.

One thing I have to say though - D.D.D can certainly dance. Symmetry aside, I'm quite impressed by their dancing. I especially like the part below during the bridge when they did a circular rotation and took turns to do solo dancing at the front.

As for the vocals, I already knew from the song itself and melodix that Maria does not have great vocals. You can see that she cannot really hit the high note during the "ashita e to..." part of Heart. But somehow tonight seemed even worse, she sung so hoarsely it was like she was having a sore throat or something. It wasn't so bad during Melodix. And her supporting cast didn't help much, because despite all of them wearing headsets, which was evident during the talk,

I could not remotely hear any of them during the song itself, above Maria's reedy voice. All I could see was them opening and closing their mouths during the chorus. Hmm, were they singing or breathing?!

In fact, I finally figured out why the group was called Dance Dance Dance, because that's just about only the only thing these 3 girls ever did.

Anyway, faced with the fickle PJ audience, it didn't bode well for the group, and indeed most of the audience put their uchiwas down, leaving them with a pathetic score of 37%.

which left them at a crap ranking of 42 which put them below most of the others except the truly crapoids like VoVoTau, who probably wouldn't be saved by the audience if there was an earthquake.Compare their score to that of Angela Aki, who got 92% or something last week, something I haven't seen since... Younha? Too bad, she picked the worst possibly ball during the lucky draw (which newcomers having 90+% qualify for) ... tissue! I was rolling on the floor with laughter, not just because of the result but because she was so anxious in the first place she spun the globe holding the balls so quickly! XD

Anyway that said, I have a lot of sympathy for D.D.D, because it is a GOOD song. And I like these kind of catchy dance anthems (not so much the cheesy -although insanely catchy- europop ones like those that Hinoi Team sometimes give us, which can get one sick after a while) a lot. And they dance so well (could I say sexy dance moves?)! So they actually deserve a higher score than 37%, at least above prehistoric jokers like... Jurassic?!. Sadly, I don't really see much of a future for this group, at least based on the results of this single anyway. They have to change their main vocalist -- Maria's voice cannot really cut the mustard, unlike Asuca Hinoi --, add one more member if they want to persist dancing this way. Maybe they can recruit Nana Katase, she's the last artiste I remember who was performed this sort of dance songs, lol. I wonder what happened to her? Whatever the case, I will be looking forward to hearing more from D.D.D !

Wow! I just found the lyrics to Harenchi Punch's Megaphone (that I mentioned earlier that I've been crazy over this week) is out. (i almost thought Uta-net wouldn't have it) Tomomi's cry at the start of the PV (right after her 告白 to that lucky guy) is pretty unforgettable...

「負けてもいいじゃん！朋美と翔太の高校三年間はなにも変わらないよ。」

Yep, the lyrics are all about a high school girl finding the courage to declare her love for her classmate. (lol how i wish this sort of thing ever happened to me) Maybe they could have named the song 「高校の中心で、愛を叫ぶ」 instead? This is definitely one to add to my karaoke list... And what do you know, it's again written by the girls themselves (just like 白線~start line~) ... Well I definitely have more respect for the "real" artistes who create their own work, so even though these lyrics aren't exactly profound (well they are high school girls after all) it does make me respect them a lot more! You could tell that Harenchi Punch won't likely be the sort that are quitters, in school, in love or in music...

And you really got to love the PV as well. The dance where they wave the megaphones in circles in the air (why do they remind me of the 野球clapboards?!) and turn left and right while doing those funny horsekicks is so cute...

I guess the only looker in the group is Tomomi. Don't you think her face is very round? Like... dumpling? Or bao?

Mako looked kind of weird (I think her ears are too big?) last time round although she looks better now while

Saya "TF6" still has a funny face, with or without those specs... ah well.

Hmm, Tomomi likes Avril Lavigne! And she thinks she is 二重人格. Hmmmmmm... I wonder what she means by that...... (she's naughty and she's nice?) Seems like all of them come from Kinki region -- Saya from Osaka and the others from Kyoto. Ah, this just goes to show that Osaka prefecture is the best city in Japan for music. (don't forget Kana, Shizuka, Ami, Aya from dream hail from Osaka too! Not to mention countless GIZA artistes -- do I feel like running back there now or what)

Here's the "enigmatic" smile Tomomi gave at the end. Hmm... the cap doesn't do the actual scene justice. Ka-wa-ii....

The top 3 are certainly some of the best Jpop I've ever heard: Get Over is a dancepop classic in my opinion and Stay ~Now I'm Here~, one of my favourite ballads ever. It almost moved me to tears last time.

Favorite Dream albums

1. Dear...
2. Process
3. Euro Dream-land

Ok so they didn't actually have that many albums to choose from, but it shows when their best 3 albums are the ones from the 3-nin era. Dear... is peerless, really.

My favourite Dream PVs

1. Get Over (it's really really cool I feel which more than made up for the delay it had in making, if anyone still remembered Kana was injured at the point in time)
2. Music Is My Thing (cosplay show ... really funny)
3. Stay ~Now I'm Here~ (It just has a really nostalgic and dreamy feel to it... filmed beautifully)
4. I Love World (loved the way they showed the girls doing all kinds of funny things, playing about in real life and how the lyrics appeared here and there on the screen)
5. Sincerely ~ever dream~ (Mai on the piano... set in a school... sure brings back memories)

TrackersJpopsuki TrackerThe Fastest Way to fill up your HDDHello TrackerAll the H!P stuff and you could ever want found hereTokyo NightsThe tracker may not be too hot but the download forums are fantastic and quick to updateLucia TrackerYou can get idol clips here too...cool or wat?

Non-Exblogsdream blogTheir official blog! Read all about dream's thoughts here.Made In ParadiseA cool blog all about Girl's Box artistes (and then some)... very colourful!Music RakuenA blog-cum-website with news, reviews and even pv and live uploads!Charming WorldsRainie's blog feat. Ai TakahashiKoike Teppei v.01Ryoko's blog about Japan's cutest face of the moment

Fansites
The first English fansite dedicated to Koharu Kusumi , the miracle member of H!P.